Album Review: Livingstone Daisies - Don't Know What Happiness Is

They kind of give the game away early on; the tracklisting split into Side A and Side B, eight songs, just over 40 minutes. The Livingstone Daisies know the traditions of the classic pop record, and set about making one of their own.

In the hands of The Walker Brothers – in this case Melbourne's Van and Cal – they make songs that do the job, not many over the requisite four minutes. There's usually a whole story, mostly of love coming or going, before the repeat to fade. They even get the right people to complete the band: Liz Stringer adds the necessary female counterpoint in music and voice, and the drummer can sing a bit, too – along with the Paul Kelly and Weddings Parties Anything credits after Michael Barclay's name.

All's there to serve the songs. From Wednesday's neatly wrought announcement that the relationship is done, but the life has to go on; “I'm leaving home… The bins go out on Wednesday”, they know how to express the feeling, big and little. Van's just-gruff-enough-but-so-honest voice has the ability to make something as potentially trite as Redhead's ”Your eyes are blue/And the sky is too” have real affection to them.

Through Blue Solitude's Beach Boys harmony wigout that takes it to its end, the almost alt.country quieter hurt of Safety In Numbness, or the slightly frayed layers of Keep Searching, they just make it sound easy, and right. Insert all the right power pop names – if you know any – and add Livingstone Daisies to them. Pop of the old school, and damn good at it.